Ugly Envy
by Loli-Lolitaa
Summary: Flippy was falling for Flaky, hopelessly and selfishly. But her realtionship with Shifty wasn't a hurdle that could be jumped over so easily, especially with his affectionate ex-girlfriend Giggles on his tail. To what extent will he go to get his way? Rated M for slight sexual content. A not so jolly Flaky x Flippy / Flaky x Shifty story!
1. Chapter 1

Flippy was patiently standing outside the motel he had been staying at for the week. The air of the night was humid with the summer heat, but much cooler than earlier today. His eyes darted to his wrist watch, '_11 already?' _he thought to himself_, 'Where are they...?'._ The green bear pressed his cigarette to his lips for one last drag before snuffing it out against the brick wall of the motel. They were late. _Very late._

The motel was lonely, attracting very little attention to passers by in their cars; though it was just road stop, after all. But seeing no one around was nice, it was just him...waiting for two of his closest friends who should have been with him over an hour ago.

A sigh of impatience was released. Flippy's thoughts pondered over assumptions; perhaps they'd forgotten about tonight? Or got caught up along the way, leaving them to run late. Either way, Flippy felt disheartened that they didn't show up. With the click of his car key his truck was unlocked, and he flung open the door to get in. Despite the foul feeling of annoyance at the pit of his stomach, he wouldn't allow himself to fuss over tonight, and would maturely be the one to arrange a get together for another time. Right now, a calming drive around the empty roads was all Flippy wanted.

The roads were empty, as expected, so he took this as an advantage to drive in a slow, cruise manner to relax. Of course, he would've enjoyed driving fast and recklessly to ease off some steam, but that just didn't feel right to Flippy; he wasn't so careless towards road safety. On the rare occasion, another lonely car would drive up behind him, its blaring headlights would catch Flippy off guard and alert him not to drive at such a slow pace, so he'd lazily reach his hand out of the open window and gesture the car behind to drive past him. Some would respectfully slow down behind him to await permission to pass him, but others would rudely speed past him instantly. Then again, Flippy is the on driving under the speed limit.

There was an opening towards a cliff coming up as he drove. He'd been to the same place several times during the later or early hours; the view, no matter what the weather had in store, was mesmerising. He turned his truck through the large gap in the fence beside the road, and then slowed down to a halt just before the cliff's edge, pulled back the handbrake and removed the key from ignition to hear the engine die down.

The view of the night sky was soothing. Uncountable stars glittered the navy velvet sky, and there wasn't a cloud in sight, perfecting the view. Beyond and below the cliff was the calmed sea, and a deserted beach. By the looks of the messy trails and marks in the sand, a popped beach ball, and clutters of forgotten litter, the beach would have been packed with people during the daytime - all enjoying the summer in and out of the water.

The veteran exhaled a somewhat loathsome sigh; he'd forgotten what it felt like to have fun, or even enjoy the blaring heat of the summer on a beach ever since his dreadful years in the Weaponized Animal Regiment had came around. Especially the war. That one dreadful war. It left him broken: mentally more than physically. Now he was left with very few positive emotions and feelings, and an inner ego with an insatiable thirst to inflict all of the pain that he'd felt over his years in the army on others. The only things keeping his devious wits at bay so far was his time spent relaxing, and his friends, Sneaky and Mouse Ka-boom (he was nicknamed Kouse more than often) whom had ever so rudely abandoned their plans to meet Flippy tonight for a little catch-up, and a drink.

There was that feeling again. An ache that jabbed at his chest like an attention-seeking child, begging to fill some sort of hole that gaped in his heart, and his head.

Lonely. Flippy was lonely and knew it. Yet he seldom tried to fix this, allowing himself to wither away each day and night. The bear would often tell himself that he didn't need the hole in his heart to be filled, he simply went with the idea that this solitariness was part of the price he'd pay for being a dangerous veteran. So he never moped in his sorrows. Ultimately, he slowly began to doubt that he'd even remember how to treat a woman with the love and kindness that she would deserve; Flippy was almost certain that the past years of hardy treatment, bloodspill, and blinding violence would have easily wiped away his sense of affections.

Flippy lay back against the front window of his truck as he'd sat on top of its dented bonnet. Before engulfing one last image of the luscious night above him, he squeezed his eyes shut and folded his arms behind his head for comfort.

There was something about the night that would often get to him, as if he was vulnerable during the later hours to all these emotions that plunged him further into his remorse. Flippy hated over-thinking, but that's all he did when he had nothing better to do.

His over-thinking was then interrupted by the distant hum of a car engine from the road behind him. Just another passer by, he supposed. Until the tires pierced the ambiance with an awful screech. Curious to such an oddity at this time of the night, Flippy gave in to inspecting. So he shuffled to the edge of his truck to gaze past it..

There was a pale blue muscle car, a Dodge Charger by the looks of it. Its front and rear lights were dim, and its windows tinted. For a second, Flippy presumed that whoever was in the car had taken notice to his own vehicle parked by a cliff, but what happened next told him otherwise.

A door was heard as it was flung open and harshly slammed, perking Flippy's ears. The figure who'd left the car appeared from the side as they rushed towards the boot of the car to retrieve what was in it. The red tail lights illuminated the figure, revealing that she was a female, and she was struggling to heave out a large suitcase, but eventually succeeded. A larger figure stepped out from the driver's side to stroll towards the female, but was meekly shoved away by her.

Flippy's brows furrowed; the situation was tense, and an awkward feeling that he shouldn't be seeing this nestled within him. Yet he continued to study the two strangers.

Angry, raised voices were heard as the odd couple bickered and barked at each other. The female sounded more flustered, and the male's voice dripped with frustration. Their exact words were incoherent due to the distance between Flippy and the two, but there was, without a doubt, an argument erupting between the two.

After a minute of her shoving and his attempts at restraining her arms, the male had turned his back on her to slump back into his car. Then before he could drive off, the female, in a burst of anger, kicked the back of his car, then yelled cursive words as he swerved off; the cloud of smoke from the burning tires and exhaust pipe smothering her where she stood.

A shocked expression painted his features for a brief moment, but was soon tainted by disgust, "Is that bastard actually going to leave her in the middle of nowhere?" Flippy hissed. The woman was still stood in the middle of the road as she watched the muscle car speed off without hesitation. Not long after that, she dropped to here knees, face in her palms as she silently cried.

A small bubble of guilt burst inside of Flippy for simply watching as a female was dumped and abandoned in the middle of a road, and doing nothing about it. She stood up eventually, and clutched the handle of her large bag to carry it as she walked. It was clearly much too heavy for someone with her height.

Mustering up his will to make a move, and pushing aside his previous thoughts from over-thinking, Flippy hopped back into his truck, buckled up, and brought the engine to life once again. He made a U-turn away from the cliff and onto the road. By now she'd only managed to get so far, no thanks to her bag, so it didn't take long for Flippy to pull up beside her.

The woman stopped in her tracks as the illuminating glow of headlights filled the road beside her, and she turned back to scowl through her tears, almost convinced that it was the same vehicle from before until she noticed it was just a truck. Flippy was able to get a good look at her as she stood in the lights from his car. She was a red-furred porcupine, looked a little younger than himself, and she was dressed in a plain, knee-lengthed dress, a pair of brown boots, and an over-sized baseball jacket.

The porcupine must have grew nervous and unsure of what to do, as she stood idly by Flippy's truck fidgeting with the sleeve of her jacket. Figuring he should step out to say something, Flippy exited his truck and approached her. He noticed just how short she was, the top of her head barely managing to measure up to his chin.

Words didn't seemed to merge from either of them. She was clearly in a state where her emotions had practically swallowed her up, but Flippy was simply unsure with his words. They finally shared a brief moment of eye contact before the green bear spoke out.

"I saw what just happened to you," he started. The porcupine blinked her watery eyes and glanced up at him with her pale blue orbs, "Y-…you did?" Flippy nodded, his expression held its typical hardiness despite the concern he had for the girl, "Would you like a ride home?"

The young woman's face twisted into a weak frown, and her lip threatened to tremble, "Thanks, but I can t-take care of myself from here." Flippy was hoping that she wasn't talking seriously; there wasn't another town or even another motel for miles, "Well, look, I'm not about to just drive off and leave you out here to walk by the side of a main road. Please, just let me take you home."

After a long pause of debate, the girl sighed in defeat, "Fine…but there's just one problem," she muttered. Flippy urged her on, "Which is?" Her eyes fell to the ground once again, "I don't exactly want to go back home…he'll..." the lump in her throat and spill of her tears cut her speech short.

Flippy was at a loss of what he could possibly do to help the sobbing girl before him. Was he supposed to hug her? Give her a tissue, or wipe her tears himself? She was just a _stranger_.

"…I don't want to get hurt again." The porcupine confessed as she soaked up the remaining tears on her sleeve. Flippy's heart seemed to clench at her words, and he began to ponder, 'Is that jerk abusing her…?' Dismissing his judgement, Flippy brushed his instant conclusions to one side; it wasn't his place to assume what was happening between the two after all.

He studied the features on her face and soon noticed the small scratch along her lower cheek, accompanied by the remains of a brown-tainted bruise. The sudden urge to ask about the abusive marks swept over Flippy, but he decided not to brown nose in the situation. Taking in the fact that the two of them have almost been stood idle for 5 minutes in silence, Flippy invited the girl into his truck to drive her somewhere, "Do you have any other place to stay for the night?" he asked.

The girl sighed, her small hand reaching up to rub her eyes, "Not really..." she looked up at Flippy as the itching feeling that she was burdening him nagged at her, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't be wasting your time like this."

Flippy frowned for a moment and glanced past her. He didn't feel as though his time was being wasted, he just wanted to help her. This troubled girl is going through personal problems; problems that Flippy feels like he's burdening.

Flippy's patience was fading, and his sleepiness growing, so the last thing he wanted to do right now was stand around and wait, "It's getting colder out here. I suggest you stay in my motel room for the night if there's nowhere else for you to go. I'll drive you home in the morning."

The porcupine didn't seem to have much of a choice as the bear loaded her bag into the boot of his truck. Feeling shameful, she stared down at her boots and folded her arms as she followed him to the passenger's side, "Thank you." Flippy faced her blankly for a moment after they both got into his truck and buckled up, but he soon smiled, "No problem."

Flippy started up the engine and made a U-turn to drive back to the motel. Silence between them had settled once again. Up until Flippy's sudden realisation, "I never asked your name by the way. I'm Flippy." The porcupine's gaze finally managed to properly meet Flippy's, "Flaky. My name is Flaky."

**...~x~X~x~...**

"Well, here we are. I'll take your bags in, so just go on in to the third room upstairs." Flaky did as Flippy instructed and entered the motel before him to wait outside his door.

As she entered, the man by the reception desk shot her an intrigued glance; clearly surprised to see a new face, an upset and bruised one at that. Though fully aware she had a pair of eyes practically drinking up her appearance, the porcupine simply continued her way past the reception to make her way up to the second floor. After taking out her bag from the boot and then locking up his truck, Flippy entered after her, noticing she had already made her way upstairs.

"Who's the lady, Flippy?" the blue moose quizzed with a hintful tone as Flippy passed him by the reception. Flippy spared him a blank glance and a shrug, "Just a troubled stranger in need, Lumpy."

Upon making his way up to the second floor, the porcupine was found lent against the wall, her knees rocking back and forth as she waited. He sighed to himself; she looked so lost. "Make yourself at home. I'll get us some drinks in a minute." Flippy said, gesturing her to enter after unlocking the door.

Timidly, Flaky did as told, and shifted on her feet from the front door to the couch to sit. All the while, she watched as Flippy disappeared into his kitchen. His motel room was typically small; the main room was practically the bedroom as it had a small couch, an outdated television set, and settled at the far end of the room were a old set of printed curtains, closed over the window, a single bed, a small closet, and a bedside table accompanied by a lamp. If anything, it made the porcupine feel cozy - despite the fact she's currently in the room of a stranger.

"Say, uh, do you drink alcohol?" Flippy called out from the kitchen, followed by the chime of clinking glass bottles. Flaky quietly giggled, hearing his clumsiness, "I'll have whatever you're having."

Moments later, the pale green male returned with two bottles of ice cold beer, and he sat down on the empty space of the couch beside Flaky. She thanked him with a small smile as she took the bottle from him, the cold condensation cooled her fingertips. Thirsty for the bitter taste, Flippy placed the tip of the bottle against his lips, but was suddenly drawn to Flaky's even bigger thirst; he watched in bemused awe as she mercilessly chugged down the full bottle in one go, and she didn't even cringe at its rather foul and distilled taste.

The bear couldn't stifle his widening smile as Flaky wiped her hand across her mouth, "You know, if you're thirsty I can get you something nicer to drink?" the porcupine muffled a burp before it escaped, and blushed as she looked at him, "N-No thank you," Flaky placed her empty bottle on the coffee table in front of them, "but do you mind if I have another one?"

Surprised by Flaky's strong liking for beer, Flippy jumbled for words, so he nodded, "...Uh, s-sure thing, I'll bring some more in for both of us." Flaky was then left alone as Flippy made his way into the kitchen once more.

**...~x~X~x~...**

Several bottles of booze later, the two were now lazily slumped on the couch together as the television blared a late night stand-up show. Having drank a little more alcohol than Flippy, Flaky was experiencing its effects far more. So all thoughts and feelings were temporarily numbed; especially those of her abusive boyfriend. Despite her obvious sensitivity when reminded of her boyfriend, the alcohol had seemed to ease her from tearing up as much, because the moment she noticed Flippy's eyes sneak over her injured cheek was the moment Flaky spilled more about 'the jerk'.

"He says he never intentionally hurts me," She began, shifting on the couch to tuck her legs to one side, "but I know that's just a lie. He did this to my face last night when I said I was going to pack up and leave him for good this time...I thought that sneaking out to stay at a cheap hotel tonight by myself would keep him off my tracks, but he found me before I could even book in, and forced me to get in his car..." she paused for a moment and jerked her head back against the couch to stare at the bare ceiling. Flippy lost focus on Flaky's words as his eyes traveled from her eyes down to her throat, and he licked his dry lips; he suddenly started to regret drinking and giving in to six bottles. Now his own intoxication was becoming a little overwhelming.

Yet he still tried his best to seem like the sober one, "S-So, what happened in the car? Before I'd found you o-on the road?" He asked her, realising that he was beginning to slur in his speech. Flaky's half-hearted gaze didn't move from the ceiling, "Pff. That s-stupid jerk tried to grab my face so I'd look at him during another one of his 'you'll-be-nothing-without-me' lectures, that's how I got the s-scratch. I slapped his hand away, and went to open the car door, that's when he finally stopped the car so I could get out..." Flippy watched as she squeezed her eyes shut, and her lip threatened to tremble, "...such things have never bothered me anymore; the threats, the insecurities, the abuse, and not even the way he treats me - I stopped loving him years ago, b-but he's said that he loves me countless times a-and...I...he just drove off!"

The drunken porcupine's sorrowful expression was hidden by the sleeves of her baseball jacket, but Flippy already knew she was crying, and it somewhat managed to wake him up from his drowsiness. As she silently sobbed and sniffled into her jacket, Flippy was unsure of what to do to comfort the crying female, but to see her cry made his chest uncomfortably and unfamiliarly tight. So he slowly edged himself closer to where she was sat and shyly draped his arm over her quivering shoulders.

Expecting her to flinch, or coil away, Flippy was stunned when she instead clung to him, wrapping her thin, shaking arms around his torso. It's been a while since a warm blush had tinted his face from the touch of a female, and even longer since the fluttering sensation of butterflies ached his stomach from the single presence of a female. It had all hit him so suddenly too, and he felt his dizziness mix in with his intoxicated state. Flaky was sobbing uncontrollably, and it was plucking at Flippy's heartstrings.

"Ssshhhh..." he quietly cooed, wrapping another arm around her in an embrace. Eventually, her sobs silenced, but their hug still went on. Until he heard a light sigh of content from Flaky, Flippy didn't realise he was brushing and toying his fingers through the softness of her quills.

Flaky lifted her head from against his chest to look up at him, "I'm really sorry for dumping all of my sobbing on you. I haven't been this drunk since high school." she apologetically murmured, her slurring not so prominent anymore. Flippy reassured her with a smile, "You don't need to be sorry, Flaky."

Flaky smiled back at him, secretly wondering if she was bothering him again...but that could just be her paranoia creeping up on her. Nonetheless, she was rather enjoying the bear's company, despite being far from sober. Their prolonged embrace awakened her from being so sleepy, allowing her to take in their silent situation. Being in his arms had blocked out her pained emotions from her boyfriend, and had made her think more about the man cradling her.

The black and white fuzziness of the television screen was the only light that filled the dark room. The time was unknown to them, but they guessed it was around the early hours after midnight by now. Flippy was closer to his sober state, but that was clearly much more of a struggle for a Flaky. He was still running his fingers through her plum red locks, lost in the continuous motion. Flaky obliviously started to trace her fingertips on the creases of his black undershirt, never expecting it to muster a faint moan from him. It made her hand freeze for a second, but then she shyly continued, curious over his reaction. She must have hit a sensitive spot somewhere on his chest, as a not-so-faint moan parted his closed lips. The sudden growing temperature of his body brought an excitement over Flaky, but her strong intoxication blinded her to see this.

She was fascinated to hear him react to the slightest touch; it brought Flaky closer to seeing that her harmless touches were growing with the intention to hear and feel his shudders of delight. Flaky traced her finger down over his chest towards his solid stomach, and she blinked - he was certainly toned. The tip of her finger moved lower and lower towards the top of his pants, and then stopped to trace back.

_'Is she purposely trying to tease me?'_ Flippy's thoughts wandered. He felt his fur stand as a flood of pleasant goosebumps trailed down each area that Flaky grazed over. The porcupine was clearly aiming to have him responding this way, so he wasn't sure where she was going about this. Such a heightened feeling of lust that slowly creeped to overtake him had made Flippy forget that this girl, whom he had only met tonight, had a boyfriend, and was likely behaving in such a way as she was hardly sober. But having nothing to trigger his lusful desires for so long meant that Flippy was going to struggle to contain himself.

The nightly atmosphere added to their change of mood. Flaky let her hand snake under his top, and began to stroke upwards to his chest, before gently dragging her nails back down near his abdominal area. She smiled to herself when his hand clenched a fistful of her quills. After arching her head up towards his neck, she glided her bottom lip over the sensitive area, then fully planted her lips onto the crook of his throat; he swallowed with anticipation as the sensations from her caressing hand and soft, warm lips threatened to push him over an edge. He released her hair to allow his hand to roam over her shoulder, and then down the arch of her back to press her closer and closer. Flaky hesitantly, but willingly, lifted her leg over Flippy until she was straddling him.

The shared, heated connection was spiraling into even more intimacy than the two had bargained for at all. The green-furred male could feel Flaky's irresistible heat through his pants, and couldn't help but slide his hands under her dress to caress her bare thighs - higher and higher until they were just at the creases of her round and plump rear. He noticed Flaky's pleasure-stricken expression as she brought her head up from his neck to gaze at him with doe-eyes. There was an unusual smile spread across her full, parted lips, but it appeared to be genuine and eager. Flippy had never seen such a smile before, and it made his lips tug into a smirk.

Taken aback by a plunging wave of awareness, Flippy looked deeply into her blue eyes, "Are you sure you want to take this further or-" Flaky's lips silenced him, happy to catch his mouth open as she playfully swirled her tongue around his. Flippy took this as a yes, and kissed her back.

Flippy dug his fingers under her cheeks and eagerly spread them, and Flaky instantly broke their kiss to emit the sweetest moan that ever crossed his ears. It was almost too sweet for him as he found himself strongly wanting to hear more. So he toyed his fingers under and over the line of her panties, tracing his fingers down over her buttocks closer to her delicacy. Flaky ran her fingers through his shaggy hair; the slight rock of her hips urging Flippy onwards until he finally reached her moistened swelling. Just the simple thought that Flippy had lead her to be so wet and aroused was enough for him to grunt out of sheer pleasure. Just as he had wanted, Flaky couldn't contain her moans and sequels of delight as he roamed his fingers through her slick folds. It didn't take long for his own heat to build between his legs.

They both froze in an instant as a rather loud series of knocks sounded from the door. A quick and confused glance was shared between them until Flaky got off of him. Flippy got up to approach the door, and he peeked his eye through the spy hole. An irritant scowl plastered his face the moment he spotted a pair of antlers.

"You better have a good reason for knocking this late, Lumpy." Lumpy was gormlessly stood with a pile of white towels in his arms, "Uhh, you forgot to pick up your towels from the laundrette...so I brought them to you," he then sheepishly peeked over Flippy's shoulder and soon blushed when he realised, "Ohh! Am I interrupting something?" Flippy glared daggers at the blue moose, snatched the towels from him and slammed the door in his face.

Flippy placed the towels on the desk for the time being, and went back to join Flaky on the couch. She smiled shyly at him, almost as if she was embarrassed from their intimacy, but he knew the porcupine didn't want to stop at where they left off.

The atmosphere was once again swarmed with their shared, drunk lust. The two of them removed their jackets and flung them to one side. Flippy allowed the red-furred woman to push him down onto the leathery sofa, and she straddled him again.

Although Lumpy intervening on their unexpected turn of events was a huge annoyance to Flippy, he somewhat thanked him for bringing fresh towels; figuring they'd be useful for when they were done. As the pretty porcupine on his lap left his head spinning, and nether regions aching, Flippy was starting to believe that drinking six bottles each with her wasn't such a bad idea after all.

_**A.N: So I have yet another story. Even though I have other unfinished ones. Ah well~ **_

_**I've had an idea for a story for a while, so before it leaves me (like they all do) I decided to plan a little something. I don't know an exact shipping to this story, and that's the fun part, so whilst our little Flaky is stuck with a bunch of men on her tail, I'll let you all secretly pick and choose her likely decision ;D but what if there is no decision?! You'll have to wait and see c;**_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well, well. Back with the next chapter for this story. I've changed the plotline for this a few times, so the summary's changed, and so has the title. I'm finally happy with the plot so far xD**

**But enough with my talking - enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 2:**

The single window of the motel room allowed a strip of sunlight to shed through between the gap of the curtains. The warm line of light shone directly onto Flippy's face as he deeply slept on the couch. Feeling the warmth of the sun eventually caused the bear to stir in his sleep to wake up to the blinding light. Squinting his eyes until they adjusted, Flippy looked around the room in a haze, trying his best to recollect the previous night's events.

He froze in confusion and shot up from his lying position and glanced across the room; there lay Flaky on his bed, still asleep. Ridden with a strange hope, the pale bear's eyes darted around - he expected everything to be in a state that was the same as what he recalled...but nothing matched.

There were no empty beer bottles, no carelessly tossed clothes all over the floor, heck Flaky wasn't even sprawled on top of him. Which had brought Flippy to face reality, no matter how much he didn't want to, _'It...was a dream...?'_ he shamefully pondered to himself, a deep blush tinting his cheeks.

He could've easily punched himself right then and there for falling asleep with dirty thoughts about a stranger, and would've if it weren't for her sudden rouse of stretches and yawns. As she rose from her sleep, Flippy sat back in embarrassment and rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.

"Oh...you're awake..." Flaky said, noticing the the bear was already wide awake. The porcupine smiled shyly, "...Good morning, Flippy." Flippy sheepishly smiled in return, "Good morning...did you sleep well?"

Flaky nodded and sat upright before standing to fully stretch, "I did, thank you. Did you? You were making a lot of funny noises in your sleep, almost as if you were crying or...moaning?"

Yet another blush filled his cheeks, leaving Flippy with no choice but to look down, "Oh, th-that? I was probably just having a nightmare, I uh, I get them a lot..." Blatantly lying to prevent making a fool of himself, Flippy withheld the fact that she was truthfully on his mind for the entire night; not so innocently either.

The porcupine couldn't help but notice Flippy's obvious blush, and worriedly wondered if she'd caused it. So as he wasn't looking, Flaky glanced down at herself and tugged the top of her dress over her cleavage. Likely due to sleeping in her dress, it was rather ruffled, revealing more than it should. Flaky inwardly cursed; it was obvious now why her boyfriend hated that dress.

Flippy looked over at the clock on his wall. It was almost 8 in the morning, but despite wanting to sleep in a little longer he figured it was better driving Flaky home first. He idly studied her from where he sat as she got up to gather any belongings. It bugged him to feel so intrigued by the red porcupine, but Flippy's thoughts at the moment were still shrouded with discomfort, no thanks to his peculiarly lustful dream about the girl. Like he's done with every other change in his regular swing of emotions, Flippy pushed aside these thoughts to get up and ready to drive Flaky home.

They both exited the motel, right after Lumpy had swarmed Flaky with his jolly goodbyes from the reception. Flaky had meekly waved back and forced a smile through her wall of shyness.

Flippy loaded her suitcase into the boot of his truck and then joined Flaky in the front. A rather nasty realisation sprung to mind just before he was about to ask Flaky where she was heading. But he did his best to swallow back his strong concerns, and then asked directions.

"So where do you live?" Flaky lifted her eyes from her fiddling fingers to glance at him, "There's a small town just past the beach, I'll give you the rest of the directions as soon as we get there." Flippy simply nodded, despite the lack of conversations biting at his nerves, and revved up his truck before driving off.

Just as he expected, their journey was silent and filled with an awkward tension that even Flaky didn't understand. As Flippy drove into the town, Flaky began to point out any significant turns and directions to guide him to her home. Being back into Hapetry town after so long made Flippy's stomach turn. He was hit by his aweful memories as hard as a brick, and would do just about anything to forget about them...

A year after returning home from his life on the battlefield, Flippy's state of mind was delving deeper and deeper into what he feared too much to come to grips with. He hired a personal therapist, as he wanted to keep his gradually-forming disorder a secret from friends, and his girlfriend especially. He was prescribed on medications by the dozen to prolong what was to come whilst his therapist did what he could to prevent it entirely. But after a month's worth of sessions, everything that Flippy's therapist tried to do had failed, and the only thing that his medication achieved was giving him a temporary depression.

From then on, everything fell apart. Flippy had confessed to Giggles, his girlfriend, about his post-traumatic stress disorder and admitted that it was better if they broke up; although this had killed Flippy to see her so heartbroken, the visions of him attacking her, or even killing her, had brought him to do so.

A month later, Flippy had took back his beliefs that things couldn't get any more worse than his breakup with Giggles when his disorder took things to a nasty extent. The few townsfolk that found out about Flippy's split personality called his new half 'Evil', and the reasons explained themselves. Evil brought all of Flippy's negative emotions and thoughts to the surface, and expressed them with abuse and violence. So because of his counterpart, Flippy had locked himself away from everybody, claiming that the smallest of trigger's could lead to a vicious break-out.

And he was right. All it took was the shattering glass of a bursting bulb, and 'Evil' was free from Flippy's conscience...until his killing spree was over. Since that day Flippy was practically shunned away from town by everyone he knew, leaving him with no choice but to hide away in his shame at the nearest motel.

Seeing as though he was fixated in an odd trance, Flaky lightly poked his arm to snap him out of it. He blinked, noticing that the traffic lights were now green, and that the row of angry drivers in their cars behind him were honking their horns in a fit of impatience.

Minutes later, Flaky pointed out a small, one-story house as they drove towards it. Flippy slowed down and swerved to park by the curb. Already, he was starting to think that this would be the last time he'd see Flaky. They both exited the truck and approached its boot to retrieve Flaky's bag.

Flaky kindly thanked him as she took it from him, "Thank you for this, Flippy," she paused, looking down in thought before continuing, "I guess this is goodbye?" Flippy frowned, "Does it have to be? Or will I see you again?"

With a small smile growing on her lips, she looked up at the bear in front of her, taking in his seriousness. If she didn't know any better, Flaky thought that Flippy was rather eager with his words, "I'll give you my number, and you can call me sometime. Here." Flaky said as she scribbled down the numbers on a scrap of paper from her pocket.

Flippy forced back his annoying blush and took it from her, slipping it into his pocket. After waving her off, he waited for her to enter her home before leaving, and as soon as she waved at him once more from her door, he left in his truck for the motel.

Flaky's stomach was a nauseous pit of knots the moment shut shut herself inside her, well...his house. Before entering, she noticed that his car was nowhere in sight, so just like every other day, he was out again.

Relieved to be alone in her own space, Flaky kicked off her boots by the front door, and dropped her bag along with it before falling down into the comfort of the couch. The silence of his flat was nice, and helped her to relax a little more. Until he got back, of course.

With that in mind, the porcupine decided to make the most of her boyfriend's absence. So the first thing she did was run a hot bubble bath to soothe her aches and stress. As she waited for the tub to fill up close to its rim, Flaky stripped from her clothes, humming a soft tune to herself along the way. She studied her features in the bathroom mirror, scowling as she ran her fingers across the tender bruise and scratch along her cheek. This time, she didn't feel the need to cry about it, and simply continued to look at herself as though it wasn't there. Then there was her small dandruff problem; something she'd struggled to eliminate since she was little, but thankfully everybody she knows overlooks it now, and doesn't feel the need to nit-pick at her problem. With a sigh of content, Flaky pushed aside everything that bothered her for the time being.

She twisted the taps until the water stopped, and carefully dipped her toes into the bathwater to test it. There was a brief sting from the heat, but it was perfectly warm once adjusted to. Happy with the temperature, Flaky pinned her large mass of maroon coloured quills into a bun before slipping slowly into the bath. Waves of goosebumps from the hot water made the dry section of her fur stand on an end, but the steam soon matted it against her skin.

**...~x~X~x~...**

Several minutes away from the house, a devious duo were quick to scurry out of a bank full of shaken civilians. With a sack of money in each hand, they quickly made their way back to their car, threw the sacks in the back and got in to drive off without looking back. They listened for a few seconds after the ear-shattering alarm was finally set off by one of the employers, then minutes later, police sirens were heard approaching the bank. But the two were already off the street, so it didn't worry them the slightest.

The younger of the two was the first to pull off his black ski mask and laugh, "It never gets old." he said, nudging his brother as he drove. The older twin smirked in agreement, but his eyes never left the road, "You're right, but it's pretty pathetic knowing that the cops in this town don't have what it takes to catch us anymore."

Lifty, the younger twin, shot him a look of disbelief, "Are you kiddin'? The dumber the pigs are, the better chances we have at emptying out every cash machine this town has!"

Although Shifty understood Lifty's point, he still wasn't so sure, "What I mean, Lifty, is the past year has been too easy; break in, take what we can then scoot without the slightest hinderance. Don't you think it gets a little...boring?" Lifty considered his brother's point for a moment, but shrugged, still satisfied with the way their robberies have been. Shifty sighed, and shot him a pitiful glance before averting his eyes onto the road again.

"Remember when we were 8?" Shifty started. Lifty puckered his bottom lip out as he shrugged, "Hmm...kinda." Shifty continued, "That was when we got our first taste of what it was like to steal. Don't you remember how it felt?"

Lifty looked off in deeper thought about what Shifty said, staring at the passing trees and buildings as the car moved. The racoon did remember everything, but hasn't ever thought back on it until he was reminded. He remembered the excitement and fear mixing up and pumping his young heart. But he specifically remembered the huge buzz of fulfilment when they angered the shop keeper after they were caught in the sneaky act. They were, quite obviously, too inexperienced and childish to pull if off without getting caught, but they didn't care; they snatched their favourite candy bar and made a dash for the exit before the shop keeper could even grab them.

Lifty chuckled, somewhat embarrassed by their first try, considering they were now out thieving cash to last them a lifetime, "Yeah...I do remember, and I guess it was a bit of a thrill back then."

Shifty nodded with a smile of agreement, and pulled the car into the drive of their house having finally arrived there, "Then let's just hope things will shake up a little soon, huh? Lifty?" The younger raccoon was a little too busy day-dreaming out of the window to notice Shifty, "Lifty?"

"What? Oh right, what is it?" Lifty replied. Shifty shook his head, forgetting their conversation for now, "It doesn't matter, but I want you to go elswhere for the time being so I can have the house for myself. Okay?"

"That isn't fair! That's my house too!" Lifty stated, gaining nothing but a careless shrug from his brother.

Lifty groaned, giving up on trying to win against his keener twin, "Ugh, fine." Lifty despised his brothers tendency to switch from being kind and easy-going to an utter selfish ass. Thinking again about that, Lifty knew better than to expect his brother to be kind outside of the odd rare occasion.

But, taking a notice to his brother's change in mood, Shifty nudged his arm before he could exit the car, "Hey now, don't you have that girlfriend of yours to see? The one with the old lady hair?" Lifty scoffed at his last question, and slammed the car door behind him before Shifty did, "If you mean Lammy, then yes, but she isn't my girlfriend...yet."

Smiling with certainty, Lifty left Shifty to see Lammy, leaving him with the house to himself. Shifty had his reasons, though, and didn't just send his brother away so he could be completely alone, but with his own girlfriend instead. Shifty approached the front door with the bags of stolen money clutched in one hand, and his keys ready at the other, but the key failed to unlock a door that was already unlocked, to his surprise. His hand twitched with suspision on the door knob as he opened the door. Shifty mentally quizzed to himself; had someone broke into his house? Did he forget to unlock the door this morning? Or maybe...

"Flaky..." A frown turned into a smirk as the thought of the porcupine occured to him, and so he entered quietly, shutting the door behind him as silently as he could manage.

Still lost in relaxation, Flaky was close to dozing off in the bath. It had lost some of its heat by now, but there was enough to keep her warm. Just as Flaky was about to fall under her drowziness, a noise from the other side of the flat startled her. There was a small silence just after the noise, then heavy footsteps were heard coming towards the bathroom. Flaky's heartbeat began to quicken, her stomache knotting up. Secretly, she prayed he wasn't home so soon; Flaky just wanted her own peace for a little longer.

Noticing the steam seeping through the ajar-open door, Shifty approached the bathroom and slowly opened the door to enter. Flaky squeezed her eyes shut, stifled her trembling lip and sunk herself deeper into the bath until only her head was revealed. She couldn't read his blank expression as he stood at the door, so what was to happen next was beyond her.

Shifty put down the lid over the toilet seat and sat himself down, cupping his hands under his chin, "Where were you last night, Flaky?" His question dripped with his insecurities, but this wasn't the first time she'd been questioned in such a way.

Flaky turned away from his gaze and frowned, "Why would you care?" her voice trembled under her nerves, but Shifty didn't notice, "Why would I care? Flaky, you're my girlfriend, all I do is care about you!"

Flaky scoffed, and faced him with a scowl, "You don't care about me at all, Shifty! You care more about draining the next bank you see of its money than you do about me," her eyes stung as she attempted to refrain any tears from spilling, "you're nothing but an aggressive, greedy and self-rightious man, and...I..." she paused, her expression emptying, "I haven't felt anything for you for over a month now..."

Just as the unexpected truth spilled from Flaky's quivering lips, the tears she'd held back broke out along with her sobs. After hearing Flaky state a truth she'd quite clearly kept to herself for all that time, Shifty suddenly felt his chest ache. He didn't know what to do or say at that moment, his girlfriend was pouring her heart out to him, but all he could do was sit and gawk at her as his heartstrings were furiously tugged. The only thing that clogged up his head the most was discovering that Flaky hadn't felt the same way for all that time, and spoke nothing of it.

After several painful minutes of listening to Flaky's crying whilst trying his hardest to think straight again, Shifty got up to leave the bathroom, disappearing without a single word. He would've stayed, but he didn't want Flaky to see him cry; the porcupine has never seen Shifty cry, ever.

It wasn't long before Flaky had drained herself from her tears, so she decided it was time to get out of the bath. The suds had decreased from large piles to a small layer on the lukewarm water. After rinsing away the streams of tears from her face, Flaky pulled out the bath plug, and stepped out to fetch a towel.

Deep down inside, Flaky didn't want to leave the bathroom to face Shifty. If she didn't know her boyfriend any better, Shifty had either stormed out of the house and drove off in a tantrum somewhere, or he was silently lay on their bed, over-thinking to the point where he'd get angry at the smallest of disturbances.

Quickly towel-drying her quills, and then wrapping the towel around her body, Flaky left the bathroom to cautiously creep the house in search for Shifty. Seeing as though their bedroom door was shut, Flaky figured he may be in there, so she held her breath and braced herself before opening the door. Not there. The dandruff-laden porcupine sighed - out of annoyance and sheer hopelessness, _'I bet he's gone and left me now.'_ Despite her silly accusation being impossible, Flaky thought about it more and realised that she might just be right. After all, Shifty knows how she really feels now.

But seeing his blue car still parked in their drive from the living room window took her by surpise as she tip-toed in, and told her otherwise. Confused, she raised an eyebrow and looked around. Spotting the kitchen door, Flaky's curiosity grew. Thus, she clutched the towel closer to herself before approaching the kitchen. The pit of her stomach bubbled with nervousness and paranoia; there was no denying that the raccoon was going to peeved when Flaky finds him. If she finds him.

And she did find him. Sat sluggishly at the kitchen table with a glass of water in his hands on the the table. He rythematically strummed his fingers against the glass as he gazed upon the wodden surface of the table, still somewhat taken aback by Flaky's confession. The said porcupine then caught his eye as she sheepishly strolled through the door, but after spotting him, she halted and remained where she was. Shifty took one look at her grieving expression and sighed; a sudden wave of guilt was beginning to wash over him.

"Don't just stand there, Flaky, sit with me." He abruptly commanded, gesturing to the chair at the end of the table beside him. Flaky's eyes never left the ground as she meekly did as Shifty told her to and sat down. But Shifty wasn't going to accept her silence at all, "You can at least speak to me, Flaky. Please."

Flaky's ear twitched with a slight interest in the tone of his voice; he sounded genuine, and that was a rarity for Shifty in these situations. Yet still, Flaky seldom found the words to say to him - she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to make a conversation that will likely lead to another eventfull arguement. So she remained silent and gazed down at her fidgeting fingers on her lap. This, of course, only succeeded in pushing the dark green male closer to stressing out about their crumbling relationship. He squeezed his eyes shut and soothed his temples with his fingers to try and ease his growing headache. On the other hand, Flaky continued to worriedly twiddle her fingers, seeking even the slightest bit of calmness despite knowing her boyfriend was forcing back his show of anger. If she hadn't cried in the bath so much, Flaky would have instantly broke down by now.

Shifty took in her anxious and disheartened expression and couldn't ignore the wrenching pain in his chest, "If I change...will you stay with me?"

Speechless at Shifty ever considering saying such a thing, Flaky could only gawk at him. But eventually found the words, "Y-You want to change?"

"If it means you won't leave me, then yes." Shifty replied. His solemn tone made it quite obvious that he was going out of character just so he could speak out for himself. The though of Flaky leaving him; Shifty didn't like that one bit.

Flaky found herself smiling. It was a shame that Shifty was going so far as changing himself, but the way he's been acting lately wasn't something she wanted to stand for anymore, "Do you promise?" she playfully added, her mooding lightening a little. Shifty smirked and reached over to grasp her hands in his, "I promise, Flaky."

**A/N: So what do we think guys? ****Pffff, I love pervy Flippy... xD**

**I'm trying to stir away from how I'd typically write a romantic fanfiction, and add a little drama and actual hurt into the story. But I'll have to see how things work out!**

**There will be hints of more shippings in this, such as FlippyxGiggles(slightly), LiftyxLammy, but so far these are the ones to expect, I might just add more ;D But fear not FxF fans! This is most definitely the main couple! Alongise SxF of course :3**

**If you came across any mistakes, I do apologise. I'm a bit under the weather at the moment and very sluggish :(**

**But please review, I want to know what you think so far. Critiques are welcome as well as general feedback because, well...everyone needs it here and there.**

**~Loli x**


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